Never received bills--am I liable for finance charges?

What is the name of your state? Texas

Two years ago I moved from Arizona to Texas. I had a small balance on a Mervyns card. My bills for this card were never forwarded to my new address. I later received the answer that Mervyns does not allow their bills to be fowarded due to privacy concerns. In my new state, I made one last transaction with this card but was never told that I had an outstanding balance. Before this, I had always paid my balance off in full every time I received a billing statement.

I have recently received a letter from a collection agency. I am more than willing to pay off my original balances. However, am I legally bound to pay the finance charges and late payment fees even though I never received a bill in the mail or was otherwise notified of my debt?

[bigun]

Macy's did try and notify you but, they didn't have your correct address. You've a responsibility to be sure the creditor has the correct contact info.
Why not contact Macy's and see if they'll take the account back from the ca?

[Ladynred]

Its actually NOT a legal obligation for them to notify you of anything. Its your account, your bill and you are responsible for seeing that it gets paid. At least that's the way they look at it and so does the law.

Its pain when they won't allow forwarding. I had the same problem with Charter Communications.. anything with a forwarding order would simply be returned to them. This wasn't in their service agreement or on their statements so how would anyone know this ?? I didn't, who would ?

What you should do is try writing a nice letter explaining that you had no idea they wouldn't allow forwarding, and ask that they drop the extra charges since your history clearly shows that you always paid off your balance, etc., etc. You may get lucky and they'll waive the extra crap. Whatever you do, don't talk to the CA, that's a waste of time and energy.